The present invention relates generally to the field of explosive ventilation and safety and, more specifically to safety devices for water craft.
At the present state of the art the operator of a boat is warned by both boat manufacturers as well as by safety regulatory agencies to thoroughly ventilate the engine compartment of the bilge to eliminate explosive residue vapors. Five minutes is typically required depending upon the volume to be ventilated and the size and efficiency of the ventilating equipment. If the operator starts the engine without sufficient ventilation, and explosion may result with attendant loss of life or limb. A system that would automatically ventilate the bilge and disable the ignition until ventilation has been completed would prevent such catastrophes from occuring.
A number of inventions have been proposed which relate somewhat tangentially to this problem. D. Ravey (U.S. Pat. No. 4,125,833) provides a sequence switching circuit with latching alarm, J. Fletcher (U.S. Pat. No. 3,760,394) provides an event sequence detector, and K. Uota (U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,074) provides an engine interlocking device; however, none of these addresses the problem of sequencing a ventilating fan with an engine ignition, and are therefore outside the scope of the instant invention.